Luke 18:31-43 cf. Matt 20:17-19, Mark 10:32-34

Listen on OnePlace
Listen on Mixcloud
 
Jesus intimates his Messianic destiny to his chosen twelve as they stride forth to Jerusalem.  His resolve and physical strength are manifested in his marching ahead of the disciples who had a strong sense that the journey was somehow ominous and that Jerusalem would not be friendly toward their Master.  The Lord’s gait and perhaps stern face caused them to quiver.
 
Taking the twelve aside (there may have been others accompanying them) Jesus disclosed the purpose of his approach to the Jewish capital as forecast by the prophets.  His going up to Jerusalem was a very determined and deliberate walk of obedience.  He knew that he faced a grim prospect and he chose to confide in his closest friends.
 
“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of man will be accomplished.  For he will be delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon, and after they have scourged Him, they will kill Him; and the third day he will rise again” (vv 31 - 33).
 
The most significant events in Earth’s history are related so succinctly.  The mood of the Savior must have been one of deep foreboding, and yet of supreme confidence in the Father’s decreed outcome.  Jesus would be a sacrificial victim who would be raised again.  Jesus did not elaborate upon the meaning of his death and resurrection at this time.  The coming straight-forward facts through which human salvation is wrought would be sufficient at the moment for the disciples to absorb.  Clues to his atoning work were to be found in the Hebrew scrolls but the disciples were not at this stage of spiritual immaturity adept at picking them up.  The events and their essence were not intelligible to them in a twofold sense.
 
“And they understood none of these things, and this saying was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said” (v34).  Christ’s process of self-disclosure its gradual and highly personal.  It emerges from his divine sovereignty as the Word.  “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.  Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.  All things have been committed to me by my Father.  No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matthew 11: 25-27).
 
The chosen of Jesus are first taken aside for reliable knowledge of the historical facts.  These were declared to the twelve.  But facts alone are not sufficient for saving faith.  The meaning of them was hidden from the disciples.  Human intelligence cannot discern salvation meaning in bare facts.  We are blind and it is the divine prerogative to explain the facts.  This Jesus does by his Spirit in his own good time.  He takes us aside individually and personally to illuminate both the information concerning him, and our eyes to perceive him with the eye of faith, a gift of grace.  Aptly, the incident of the blind beggar receiving his sight (vv35-42) is skillfully appended to Jesus’ prediction delivered on the road.  He speaks this command to our soul.  “Receive your sight:  your faith has healed (saved) you (v42).
 
RJS

The Messiah in the Psalms   
OUR GOD IS A GOD WHO SAVES   
Psalm 68: 19 – 26

Our psalm is a hymn, first of assurance, and second a song of anticipation. It affirms great confidence in Israel’s God:
     Our God is a God who saves (v20).

In expectation before the temple, seeing only the singers, musicians, and maidens approaching the place of worship - a procession of mere people - the poet with keen spiritual eye and prophetic insight perceives a human and ceremonial representation of the advance of the Messiah:
     Your procession has come into view, O God, the procession of my God and king into the sanctuary (v24).

The coming Messiah is a Savior in a comprehensive way. He bears daily burdens (v19). He preserves from death (v20). He overthrows his enemies who naturally oppress his people. His enemies are those who go on in their sins (vv21-23).

The consequence of all these things is the fulsome praise of God:
     Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior (v19). Praise God in the great congregation; praise the Lord in the assembly of Israel (v26).

The faith of Israel was very firmly placed in the One who was to come. He would deal with troubles, with enemies, and with death. Messiah would come in great strength. He would arrive and behave as Sovereign Lord. This inspired forecast would be ratified and verified in very similar words by the father of the Baptist, Zechariah the priest. That which was prophesied is now present. Israel rejoiced in the promise; now the people of God may acclaim the advent of Messiah.

Zechariah produces a two-fold hymn of holy rejoicing (Luke1:68-79). Part one describes Messiah’s purpose. The second part describes the heavenly assignment of John his newborn son. Both portions of Zechariah’s song exult in Jesus as Savior, Rescuer, and Redeemer. The words of psalm and song closely correspond. The sentiments correspond exactly.

There is obvious unity in the offering of praise to God. Salvation in all its aspects is granted. Relief from the hatred and harm of the enemy is pledged. Mercy will abound. Fear will be dispelled. Holiness and righteousness will be bestowed throughout life.

Just as the psalmist can aver that God bears his peoples’ burdens, so the priest can render the assurance that divine upholding will assist believing folk throughout the full stretch of their earthly course.

The Jerusalem procession preceded the coming of the Anointed. John the Baptist would precede Messiah more closely. John would point to the great event of forgiveness of sins in the lives of the penitent, announce the divine mercy, and apprise people of the way of salvation and the path of peace.

Both psalmist and priest declare “that our God saves”. Future and fulfillment are both covered by the faithfulness of God. And we who read both compositions possess the warrant of our faith.

(Psalm 110 : 1 - 5)
 
Historically, the Christian church has veered between the sweet Christ and the conquering Christ, between the Christ of mercy and the Christ of wrath. Martin Luther compensated for the imbalanced emphasis on divine anger in his time by emphasizing the compassion of the Savior in his teaching of justification by faith.
 
The tendency should not be to veer over much toward the warrior Christ, or to favor the sweet Christ, but to incorporate within our understanding both the sweetness and the severity of the Lord Jesus. Christ exercises judgment and mercy in his governance of humankind. We should not focus on Christ as timid or tame nor should we view him as a figure of terror eager to cut us down. We live in a limited period of reprieve when sinners all are exhorted to make peace with God through the Redeemer. Amnesty is recommended to all through the gospel. But neglect of the gospel may result in sudden retribution. We cannot toy with the righteous God.
 
There is that beautiful sentiment enunciated in the Belgic Confession of Faith (Reformed) Article XXVI, Christ’s Intercession: “But this Mediator, whom the Father has appointed between him and us, ought in no wise to affright us by his majesty, or cause us to seek another according to our fancy. For there is no creature, either in heaven or on earth, who loves us more than Jesus Christ… If, then, we should seek for another mediator who would be favorably inclined towards us, whom could we find who loved us more than he who laid down his life for us, even ‘while we were his enemies’”.
 
The scepter of Christ is extended over the entire cosmos. It is sovereign over all rebel forces measuring, restraining, countering their evil ways. Soon it will be wielded to shattering effect as God decrees the destruction of all his foes. The armies of rebellion will be routed. The scepter of Christ rises protectively over his people and they yield themselves eagerly to his rule. Christ exercises universal dominion throughout the farthest reaches of the heavens and the vastness of space. Christ is sovereign over the interior of every human life and every historical event that occurs. Everything contributes to the manifestation of his majesty, the glory of the Godhead, and the mercy and justice of heaven.
 
Nothing depletes his power or diminishes the effectiveness of his attributes. His perfection and sufficiency never wanes. All his qualities coalesce in the holy development of his most wise purposes. Christ is to be feared and trusted. Christ is to be believed and obeyed. Christ is to be adored and worshipped. Saint or sinner dwell under his mighty scepter. Happy are those who may call him “my Lord”.

Listen on Oneplace
Listen on Mix-cloud 

Isaiah 11 : 1 -10
​
In his Pensées (Thoughts) Blaise Pascal is most emphatic of the sublime role of Israel’s prophets in announcing the eventual coming of Messiah for “some four thousand years” of the foretelling of his Advent. Pascal’s sentiments are warmly personal toward “my Saviour who came to earth to die and suffer for me in the time and circumstances foretold.” The most important birth in human history is not related as mere fact or event in time but as a personal gift of grace and joy from God (Luke 2:10, “good news of a great joy,” meaning Jesus).
 
It is fascinating to trace the forecasts of the arrival of the Redeemer of the world and to think that his coming has been foretold for millennia in a variety of ways and figures, and under the various titles that will describe his person and offices. The pulse and drumbeat of the Promise increases as we scan the details of his assured arrival. The Bible in its entirety is the Book of Christ. It is so enticing to capture the developing prophetic message of the Scriptures concerning the Lord Jesus; so arresting to apprehend God’s pledge and preparation to retrieve us to himself through the adorable God-Man – the uniqueness and sufficiency of his purpose of rescue from the mire of sin and prospect of doom.
 
The Old Testament is a library of treasured documents of anticipation of the time and circumstances of our glad deliverance from servitude to evil and alienation from our Maker. There is within it the throb and thrill of union with our soul’s lover and friend and the cancellation of our grim and deserved death as penalty for our rebellious breach with the Triune Almighty One. The Offended forgives and removes our offenses through his substitutionary suffering and death. Every intimation concerning the Messiah is alluring and overwhelming in its significance. Aspects of his nature or character, his undertaking on our behalf, are too colossal for our comprehension to adequately grasp. We are caused to review and ponder the assertions of the Scriptures over and over again, to contemplate them at depth.
 
The things averred by Isaiah about Jesus, for instance, are riddles that incite a sense of profound mystery and delicious intrigue.  In verse one the Messianic figure is referred to as a shoot “that will come up from the stump of Jesse”, the father of King David. The Christ will emerge from Royal background, and yet a Royalty that far exceeds mere earthly dignity (great David’s greater son). This pre-eminence is indicated in verse ten where Messiah is described as the Root of Jesse, by implication the eternal source of David’s regal dignity.  And so the human and divine natures of Israel’s Redeemer are predicated in the One who is both Root and Shoot. The Lord Jesus is both the Base and the Branch of the Royal tree; its producer and product of the Lord’s saving grace, the fruit of divine efficiency. How beguiling this wondrous insight happens to be.
 
How well-equipped our Saviour happens to be: “The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him – the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord” (v2). The Lord Jesus is the ordained, resourced, and reliable salvager of lost and believing humanity. Like Blaise Pascal we may be able to confess his lovely and endearing words: “I stretch out my hands to my Saviour.”
 
RJS

1 Chronicles 29:10-13
 
David’s Prayer
(NIV)
 
David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying,
 
“Praise be to you, Lord,
    the God of our father Israel,
    from everlasting to everlasting.
 
Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power
    and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
    for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, Lord, is the kingdom;
    you are exalted as head over all.
 
Wealth and honor come from you;
    you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power
    to exalt and give strength to all.
 
Now, our God, we give you thanks,
    and praise your glorious name.
 
In this comprehensive outburst of prayer David sums up many reasons in both God, and his actions, that are worthy of our whole-hearted praise. God is the author of our faith tradition, its Hebrew origins and our Christian inheritance from that prophetic source. In Holy Scripture we hear from our fathers as well as our Father. The God who has blessed us is everlasting in his being and everlasting in his faithfulness, and we are secure in him everlastingly. A joy to know.
 
God’s personal and essential nature is great and infinitely powerful. He is radiant with uniquely divinely brilliant, bright, blazing and burning excellence and beauty; his glory, majesty, and splendor which David acknowledges and honors in exuberant language of admiration. This wonderful God, David affirms, is the owner of everything: for everything in heaven and earth is yours. The kingdom of creation is God’s. The renewed creation, as the kingdom of righteousness through redemption, will recognize the Lord as head over all.
 
All benefits are bestowed by God from his infinite bounty, at his discretion as his sovereign and indisputable prerogative. All blessings material, circumstantial, or of the mind and soul –  everything that we appreciate comes from him. All the energy and capacities, physical, mental, and spiritual that we exert are at his enabling. A generous Giver governs the earth. The strength and power of God in varying degrees empower us all. “All things are yours”, we say, and in our devotion “we admit, and of your own do we give you”.
 
The treasure that we bring to him in whatever power he has given us – the love and honor of our hearts, our time, our skills, our service in many forms, the substance that we can afford after all obligations are met – these are the treasures of a grateful and dependent being who humbly confesses: It comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you (v17).
 
RJS

Listen on OnePlace
Listen on MixCloud

1 Corinthians 15:1-11
 
Paul exhorts believers to hold firmly to the Gospel. It comes initially as information that is genuinely true and Christians may stand upon it with absolute confidence. It is grounded in accurate history and to embrace it does not entail any gullibility whatsoever whatever those who deny it and oppose it may allege.
 
Paul preaches the Gospel with definite certainty in its veracity and its power to salvage the sinful. “By this Gospel you are saved” (v3). The apostolic pledge of the efficacy the message concerning Jesus Christ is the incentive to persevering faith. He addresses the possibility that faith may be professed but not actually possessed within the heart. A superficial belief is in vain. It is found at the tip of the head but is not grounded in the soul.
 
Paul avers the twofold grasp of the apostolic report concerning the Redeemer he proclaims:

a) The tidings concerning Christ are solidly, soundly historical. The details of Jesus’ life and ministry are true. The supremely saving events related by his followers are indisputably real. Christ died, was buried, and rose again (vv. 3-4). The crucifixion was viewed by many - those who loved Jesus and those who loathed him sufficiently enough to kill him. His advocates and enemies stared at the same cruel cross. Roman soldiers saw him expire and certified his demise. Jewish dignitaries buried him. His body was not interred in the earth but laid on a shelf in a rich man’s grave (Joseph of Arimathea). In the cold, dank tomb the Savior was raised to life. The power of the Lord performed the Resurrection on the third day of his decease. The marvel amazed his friends and disciples. They observed together the wonderful work of God.  

b) Peter the denier was especially summoned to see him. The twelve beheld him. Subsequently, five hundred of the band of brothers and believers saw him alive at the same time. This was no illusion - hundreds of people hallucinating together. When Paul was corresponding with the Corinthian church most of the observers were still alive and could guarantee their experience. James should be included on the list of witnesses, and also the totality of the remaining apostles following Judas’ suicide.  
​
Finally, Paul adds his encounter with the risen Lord. He knows fully all that he is expatiating upon so convincingly. He knows nothing can be denied and that every fact must be declared. “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance” (v3). Paul received the assurance of the disciples, the report of the five hundred, and then the confirmation of the Messiah’s personal appearance on the Damascus Road.
 
The interpretation of the death, burial, and rising again of the Lord Jesus is enunciated by the apostle. It is the primary principle of the Gospel - all Christian thought, understanding, and proclamation “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (v3). This theme is wide-ranging in its application, but it should never be overlooked that the essence of Christian faith and discourse is “Christ crucified” (1 Cor 1:23). God is best known through his Son nailed to the cross (here we see his heart and the direction of his power), and all things are to be viewed and evaluated through Christ, “who has become for us the wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:30). Through belief of the Gospel the truth of history becomes the treasure of the heart.

RJS

Listen on OnePlace
Listen on MixCloud

Jeremiah 26: 1-16
 
Preaching the truth of God is a perilous pursuit. It is a certainty that certain people will not like it. It is a guarantee that some folk will resent it. It is inevitable that many hearers will repudiate it. It is incontrovertible that a number of listeners to the word of God will tweak and twist it to their own liking or prejudiced perception of matters and react angrily. The word of God is not popular to the natural mind or the un-renewed heart. It is a strong temptation to resort to human invention that will please the gallery. There are faithful prophets and false prophets, and the latter abound.
 
Gentle Jeremiah was called to the role of faithful prophet - a severe vocation for a very sensitive man. No sane person wishes to be the bearer of bad news, but the good news of the gospel can only be preceded by the bad facts of human guilt, disobedience, and estrangement from God and the curse it entails. Evil results in self-wrought disaster against which God so graciously warns.
 
An ambassador has no right to alter his master’s message. The ambassadors of Christ are attuned to the words of the Lord to Jeremiah: “Tell them every word I command you; do not omit a word” (v. 2). The message to be delivered is the doctrine of Holy Scripture with all the exactitude that the Spirit and his guidance enable.
 
Jeremiah is the great example of the reluctant preacher - not from rebelliousness but sensitivity to the consequences. Not because he would be despised and ill-dealt with (though this would in no way be desirable) but because rejection of the word is dire in its effects.
 
Obdurate persons convert the gospel into an instrument of self-harm attracting its judgment upon themselves through either unbelief or deliberate and ultimate dismissal of any hope of the proffered mercy of God. The actual words of God to lawless Jerusalem were given to the prophet. They had to be spoken with a confidence and vigor not natural to Jeremiah. But God gave to this fearful man a compulsion to utter his truth. It was a daunting assignment, a righteous task from a righteous God, but it was also a compassionate word of warning to the heedless and the hardened over the welfare of their souls.
 
God had borne with his people over long periods and a lengthy catalogue of calls to repentance, and the gaining of his warm forgiveness. But to no avail. Now was the crucial moment when divine delay was no longer possible or of benefit to a willful populace.
 
Preaching is not primarily an exercise in public or religious oratory pleasing to ear, emotion, and intellect. It is the declaration of an urgent bidding to turn to God, to reconciliation with him, rescue from peril, and the delight of communing with him and his redeemed people everlastingly.
 
Jeremiah’s ordeal and rough treatment was a foreshadowing of our race’s disdain for the Lord Jesus who testified, “I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has told me.” We do well to listen to the prophet par excellence.


RJS

Romans 6: 1523
 
The contemplation of our natural selves is an essential ingredient in genuine Christian thought. The knowledge of our nature is essential to our faith in God. From our creation the assessment of the human constitution is that we are weak. “The first affirmation of the Old Testament about man and one which underlies all the rest is that he is a creature and as such shares in the feebleness and limitations of all creatures” (Edmond Jacob). We are more dependent upon and upheld by God than we realize. This applies to our nature before the fall. Our flesh is contrasted with the strength and power of God. “The feebleness of man is inherent in his creaturely state” (E.J.).
 
Since the event of the Fall this weakness has now fallen prey to the influence of sin, and detached from God we have no protection from it as an invading and driving impulse. We actually prefer its gratifying dominion over our souls. Its force and enticements enslave us, having gained the consent of the will that is now in bondage to evil. Righteous-ness is alien to our nature and free choices.
 
The consequence, under conviction and admission of sin, its offensiveness to the God who encounters us in his unmotivated mercy, is that the things of the past that fueled and filled our lives of disobedience are now the cause of very painful shame. They were death dealing instruments of a gradual and final separation from God - the dreaded second death. But the freedom and sense of forgiveness in Christ has dramatically altered the fate of the believer. Life is now progress in holiness and, wrapped in that holiness, we shall see the Lord and participate in his everlasting life as eternal companions qualified by the righteousness of the Lord Jesus and born from above by the Holy Spirit.
 
Paul exhorts us to transcend the enslavement of sin with conscious and guarded resolve and recognize that in the transition effected by grace we are actually now the slaves of God in captivity to his love and the wisdom of his righteous will. Paul contrasts the benefits that those who know God actually enjoy in the present and anticipate for the future with the wretchedness of natural man in this world and woes yet to come.
 
Sin pays its grim wages to those in its employ. Under the evil paymaster the pleasures that seemingly accrue are transient and ultimately treacherous to the wellbeing of the soul, wreaking an alienation from God and an appetite for bogus goods and gains that can never satisfy. Sin is absolute subservience to the realm of negativity ruled by the great deceiver. He has nothing beneficial to bestow. Sin is wasting in its nature, depleting of vigor, hope, and joy until it destroys its victims. Holiness is the commencement of abiding in the Lord, strengthening our association with him until we are fully compatible with his nature and made fit for his fellowship. The result of living to and with God is the sublime reality of eternal life - pure gift.

RJS

Listen on Oneplace
Listen on Mixcloud
Sermon reference: Eternity

Matthew 20:20 - 28
 
This is a passage of Holy Scripture that records an enormous impertinence on the part of Jesus’ aunt - Mary’s sister.  Perhaps it presumes upon closeness of family ties and that Zebedee’s wife assumes that cousins of the Lord would be entitled to special heavenly glory.  “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right hand and the other at your left in your kingdom” (v21). 
 
Entitlement, feeling special, is a common human trait indulged by most of us in various circumstances.  It may be only momentary.  But in the case of John, James and their mother it was obvious that their request was well-discussed and considered.  All were agreed about the approach to Jesus and it seemed the best tactic to allow a woman, a senior family member, to voice their united desire to a deferential nephew who would regard Mrs Z with great respect. 
 
In the circumstances - the arrogance of the pleaders, and the coming ordeal that Jesus knew he was going to undergo, - the response of the Savior was measured and mild.  “You don’t know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”  The answer of the brothers is both cocky and casual.  They have no concept of the horror Jesus was ordained to endure, and their foolish over-confidence must have been a wound to Jesus’ heart.  They did not know the bitterness of the cup that Jesus was about to drink and its deep and costly salvific purpose.  They simply saw Jesus as a means to their own greatness of status and privilege - an exact contradiction of the attitude and saving action of the Savior.  
 
There can be no allowance for personal ambition in attachment to Christ.  Kinship to Jesus in the flesh rendered no advantage to his natural relatives.  For real and saving connection to him each of them would have to be born from above.  It is extreme folly, but some persons assume that their affinity to a godly relative, or even a parent who is a servant of the gospel in some way, is sufficient qualification for the kingdom.  Nothing of the flesh, nothing human, nothing of this world fits a person for union with the Lord or everlasting life in his presence.  Nothing human brings credit.  Grace alone admits us to divine favor through trust in the Redeemer.  Believers are never permitted to entertain pride or a sense superiority in anything accomplished for the sake of the kingdom.  Personal ambition and self-satisfied accomplishment are to be unknown in the hearts of God’s people.  Nothing in the way of enterprise, nothing endured is to flatter the ego.  Christ qualifies us; Christ equips us; Christ enables us in every task and godly deed.
 
Christian pride and conceit is the most disruptive force in the community of faith.  The outrageous request of a mother in the interest of her sons caused commotion and agitation within the apostolic band.  “When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers” (v. 24).  Exaggerated self-worth in the cause of Christ (stolen credit) and the seeking of the esteem of men becomes the cause of either sinful envy or justified distaste.  Self-promotion is a pagan urge.  “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them” (v. 25).  Servant-hood is the key characteristic of the true child of God and their nurturers in the faith (v. 26).  
 
Jesus disarms and dispels our foolish pride through his self-revelation as the Son of Man who came to serve in the most ultimate way possible - “to give his life as a ransom for many” (v. 28).  He frees us from enslavement to satan, self, and sin.  The way of salvation is humility, the other side of faith.  The way of service is humbleness.  Categorically, our God and his Son are exceedingly humble. 
 
RJS

Genesis 6: 5-8, 13-18
Matthew 8: 23 -27
 
Water is the great liquid asset of our earth. In its absence there would be no life, animal or vegetable, no generation or growth of any species, plant or sentient, no refreshment, herbal or human; no sustenance for any creature whatever. Water is the generous and essential gift bestowed by God to all living things upon our planet. Every drop is a marvel for which we should be grateful. It provides power in various forms. It creates prosperity. It speaks symbolically of divine promise both in the natural sphere and the spiritual realm. It is given for our consumption and our contemplation. Water is one of our chief necessities, and as such it is supremely good. But in our world, disordered by our breach with God, water can also constitute a danger and be used by our Maker as an instrument of judgment. Creation animated by it may also be annihilated by it. Dependent upon it, we may also be destroyed by it. Energy and elements moved by God may become the enemies of wickedness and be deployed in the cause of divine justice and the vindication of his pure righteousness.
 
Water is a cleansing agent. It removes dirt (bathing). It represents purification (hence baptism).  Water as judgment is found in the narrative of the flood commencing in Genesis ch 6 - a devastating occurrence of divine displeasure. Noah’s world is drowned in a prolonged downpour of wrathful rain. The waters rise, the world is ruined, the race is erased from the earth - except “Mr Noah” and his family. Noah finds grace i.e. salvation from doom through the Ark that the Lord has designed for him. In actual fact, “Grace finds Noah” (Alec Motyer). This information as to divine favor toward God’s chosen ones of the former covenant ultimately germinates over time into the full apostolic gospel. Christ is foreshadowed in the deliverance of Noah. “Blessedness there is none, except in the Gospel-ark, which is Christ Jesus. Behold him! Behold him! What is the ark of old to us, but an emblem of his full redemption?” (Henry Law).
 
The surging, raging, angry danger of water is illustrated in Matthew ch 8 vv 23 -27 when Jesus calmed the furious storm that terrified his disciples as they crossed the lake. It arrived all of a sudden and the waves swept over the boat. These professional fishermen and skilled navigators were reduced to unfamiliar panic. “But Jesus was sleeping” (v24). It did not occur to them that even the passive presence of Jesus spelt absolute safety. They prodded and pleaded with Jesus to awaken: “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” (v25).  Their faith was sufficient to call on him but they had no complete comprehension of the status and power of their silent passenger.  “You of little faith, why are you so afraid”. Jesus rebukes the small confidence of the disciples. “Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.” (v26). Every observer of the teaching of the Old Testament would know that control of the waters and the wind was a divine prerogative. The divinity of the Lord Jesus and his Savior-hood was declared in his dominion over the elements. Every ultimate danger due to alienation from God is removed in him. This will be the case in heaven.

Hebrews hated the chaos and cruelty of the sea. They avoided the sea as much as possible. It would pose no threat in the coming kingdom of God. John’s vision in the Book of Revelation would confirm this welcome truth. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea (21:1). The dread possibility of being swamped and drowned had been forever taken away. The likelihood of falling fatally into water had been entirely removed. The sea before the throne of God is depicted as safely solid - a sea of glass (4:6).
 
RJS